Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 13.djvu/486

ITALY [STATISTICS. No. Capital. 4 124 102 10 37 23 28 232 33 22 lire. 2.55,000,000 41,187,220 334,393,371 9,000,000 41,015,000 420,358,500 48,228,916 328,546,231 373,922,000 30,950,000 " Agrarian " banks Foreign insurance companies ,, miscellaneous companies C15 | 1,882,601,208 In 1869 the corresponding list comprised 352 institutions, with a total capital of 1,576,834,299 lire. The agrarian banks were insti tuted by the Act of June 21, 1869, and in 1870 they were three in number, with a capital of 6,450,000 lire. The twelve existing in 1879 were situated at Alessandria, Asti, Bologna, Oristano (in Sardinia), Cagliari (in Sardinia), A rbora and Casalmaggiore, Florence, Mantua, Terranuova Pausania, Siena, and Cologna Veneta. The minister of agriculture published in 1880 an account of the friendly societies in the kingdom (Statistica delle Socictii di miituo Soccorso, anno 1878), from which it appears they are rapidly on the increase. In the following table (L. ) the second column gives the population of the country, the third the number of societies known to exist, the fourth the number of the societies which gave information of their strength to the Government, and the fifth the number of the members : 18C2 21,929,176 443 417 111,608 1873 27,165,553 1,447 1,146 218,822 1878 28,209,520 2,091 1,981 331,548 It appears that 50 of these societies existed before 1850, and that 186 were commenced between that year and 1361. How rapid the increase has been is shown by the fact that in 1876, 1877, and 1878 there were nearly as many new societies started annually as in that decade. Piedmont, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Sicily are the districts where the number is greatest. For the most part the societies are open to operatives in any trade or industry, but at least 391 are exclusively intended for some particular class e.g., doctors, employes, teachers, &c. Of the 2091 indicated, 1537 are for men only, 70 for women only, and 484 for either. Banche popolari, or people s banks, corresponding to the Credit- genosscncliaftcn of Germany, have increased in number from 40 in 1869 to 123 in 1878. From a paper by Luzzati, the enthusiastic and laborious president of the association of the people s banks, we find that 84 of these institutions which furnished him with details of their working had at the close of 1877 a capital of 34,941,593 lire, divided into 710,869 shares, and a reserve fund of 10,436,143 lire. The greater number of these banks are in Lombardy, Venice, Piedmont, and Liguria. Societies of ordinary credit increased from 19 in 1869 to 143 in 1873, but by 1878 the number had again sunk to 102, owing to the monetary crises through which the country bad passed. Currency. Italy is a member of the Latin monetary league founded in 1865. By this the coining of pieces worth 2 lire or less was limited to 6 lire per inhabitant, so that the amount of such coins permissible before the incorporation of Venice was 141,000,000, and after that date 156,000,000. By the convention of 1875 the coining of silver coins of 5 lire was limited to 50,000,000, and this amount was reduced to 30,000,000 by the convention of 1876. The actual value coined from 1862 to 1875 has been : gold, 236,167,200 lire ; silver 5 lire pieces, 281,637,025, and pieces of minor value (1 lire, 2 lire, 20 centesimi, and 50 centesimi), all coined between 1862 and 1868 in clusive, 156,000,000; bronze, 76,190,442 lire. By the conventions of 1878 and 1879 it was agreed that the minor silver coinage of Italy should not be received in the public exchequer of the other states of the league until an end was put to the forced paper currency ; and France, Belgium, Greece, and Switzerland have undertaken to withdraw it from circulation in their respective territories, and to TABLE LI. lvalue (in lire) of Coins withdrawn from circulation from 1862 to 1871. Gold. Silver. Copper. Two Sicilies Lombardv 1,507,779 101,803 205,276,668 7,080,850 454,599 795,327 9,086,898 34,684,646 17,981,485 84,399,880 11,959,083 10,924,860 13,644,666 16,205,485 950,037 1,552 4.5,781 4,922,251 1,876,720 2,752,801 814,748 771,165 Modena Parma and Piacenza Rome Marches and Cmbria Sardinia 368,025 429 18,782,931 0,361,980 48,473 31,085 89,957 Tuscany Venice 900 Millesimi Coins, 27,29 396,288,967 28,340,544 collect it at Paris, the Italian Government agreeing to exchange it for gold or silver scudi. The Italian Government has been put to much expense in the matter of the unification of the coinage, and the process of with drawing the coins of the separate ex-Governments is still going on. Table LI. indicates the value in lire of the coins withdrawn from circulation between 1862 and 1871. From 1872 to 1879 the value of the gold withdrawn was 6,080,295 lire, and that of the silver 143,130,871 ; of the total (149,211,166 lire) the greater proportion (129,898,338) belonged to the Two Sicilies and 16,815,207 to Rome. In 1866 the Govern ment felt itself constrained to establish a forced paper currency ; the proposals made from time to time for its abrogation remained mere proposals till 1881. The parliament of that year, however, passed an Act (7th April), on the basis of a bill presented by the ministers Magliani and .Miceli, of which the chief features are as follows : J The forced currency is to be brought to an end by the close of 1883, 644,000,000 lire of metallic money (400,000,000 of the amount in gold being obtained by a foreign loan) ; of these, 44,000,000 lire to be given to the National Bank as repayment of the loan in gold made to the state in 1875, which, ac cording to the contract, was to be repaid three months before the cessation of the forced currency ; the remaining 600,000,000 to be employed in withdrawing from circulation that amount of the "con- sortial" or union notes, of which 940,000,000 lire are in circula tion, the 340,000,000 to become regular Government notes payable at sight in the principal Government treasuries ; all the small notes of 50 centesimi, 1, 2, and 5 lire, the circulation of which in Sep tember 1879 amounted to 315,500,000 lire, to be got rid of, as well as 284,000,000 in notes of 1000, 250, and 100 lire, so that the 340,000,000 lire in regular notes left in existence should all be of the value of 10 and 20 lire, with the exception of 46,500,000 in larger amounts. The consortium of the banks came to a close on the 30th June 1881, and the " consortial " notes actually current are formed into a direct national debt. Titles of Honour. The recent existence of so many separate sove reignties and " fountains of honour " as a matter of course gave rise to a great many hereditary titles of nobility. There are 400 princes, 458 dukes, 985 marquises, 1679 counts, 353 barons, and 5 viscounts in the country ; as well as 1234 persons of "patrician" rank, 2273 with a right to the designation nobilc, 318 distinctively siynori, and 46 hereditary knights or cavalieri in the kingdom. In the " Golden Book of the Capitol" (Libro d Oro del Campidoglio) are inscribed 321 patrician families, and of these 28 have the title of prince and 8 that of duke, while the others are marquises, counts, or simply patricians. Five orders of knighthood are recognized : the order of the Annunciation (Online Supremo dell Annunziata), which dates from 1362, the order of St Maurice and St Lazarus (1434), the military order of Savoy (1815), the civil order of Savoy (1833), and the order of the Crown of Italy, instituted in 1868. The king s brother is duke of Aosta, his eldest son is prince of Naples, and his cousin is duke of Genoa. Bi liography. The most elaborate work on Italy is L Italia sot to I afpetto fisico, storico, &c., published by Vallardi of Milan, and comprising (1) Dizionario Corografico, edited by Amato Amati, 9 ^ols. imp. 8vo., of upwards of 1100 pages each ; (2) Geologic* d Jtalia, by Stoppani and Negri ; (3) Oro-idrografia, by De Bartolomeis; (4) Acque minerali, by Marieni; (5) Compendia dell a flora italiana, by Cesati, Passerini, and Gibelli; (G) Fauna d Italia, by Cornalia, Canestrini, Salvador!, and De-Betta; (7) a series of historical studies Storia antica and / Barbari, by Bertolini ; / Comuni, by Lanziano, Ac. Some of these divisions are only in course of publication (1881), but the buionario Corografico and several other important sections are cither complete or approaching completion. Worthy in its own department to rank with this great work is Gaetano Cantoni s Enciclo- pedia agraria italiana, which contains voluminous articles on the various objects and methods of agriculture in the country, on its climate, soils, irrigation systems, and the like. The chief agricultural periodicals arc the Government Annalt di Agricoltura, edited by Targioni-Tozzetti, and th&L Agricoitura Italiana, formerly Rivista di Agricoltura. The publications of the Government board of statistics, frequently referred to in the foregoing pages, are numerous and various. The Annuario Statist ico (vol. ii., 1881) contains an epitome of the various official reports. Questions both of national and international scope are discussed in the Annali di Statistica (new series dating from 1878), and in the Archirio di Statistica, founded by Professor Bodio and a company of statisticians in 1871. Of non -Government statistical publications there is no lack. It is sufficient to mention Amutario del commercio ed industria del regno d Italia, Florence, 1868, <fcc. ; Annuario statistic!) delle provincie italiane, Florence, 1872; Annuario iftorico itahano, Milan, 1870, c. ; Guida generate del commercio e delV industria italiana, Milan, 1880; Annuario indus riale italiano, Naples, 1880; Parela, Saggio di dimatologia e di geografia nosologica dell Italia, Turin, 1881. Gazetteers of less scope than Amati s Dizionario are Muzzi, Vocabulario geograflco-ttorico-tlatistico, Bologna, 1873-74; Altavilla, // Rcgno d~ Italia, Tin in, 1875; and Stivieri, Gcogr. e Statistica comm. del regno d ltalia, Venice, 1879. Contributions to Italian geography and sociology naturally appear from time to time in the Sol/ettino of the Italian Geogr. Soc., Rome, 1870; in Guido Cora s Cosmos, Turin, 1872, etc.; the Kirista Europea, Florence; and the A uova Antologia, Florence; not to mention the periodical publications of scientific societies so well known as the Accademia dei Lincei, <fce. The literature issued in foreign countries in regard to Italy is very extensive, but too frequently the works are slight and " occasional." A biblio graphy of German contributions to the subject was compiled by Gregorovius, whose own works make no small addition to the list. Kecent English works are Wordsworth, Italy: Journal of a Tour, London, 1863; W. W. Story, Roba di Roma, London, 1863, and Graffiti d Italia, 1868; Elliot. Diara in Italy. London, new ed., 1871 ; Heckcthorn, Rola d ltalia, London, 1875 ; Gallenga, Italy Rtrifited, London, 1875 ; Hare, Italian Cities, London, 1876; Arthur, Italy in Transit , on, London, 1877. (H. A. W.) 1 Much interesting matter on the whole commercial condition of Italy is to be found In this Act.